I looked back at the avian women to check on them and saw that they had Val inside the makeshift bath and were slowly basting her in it to clean her. It was a little erotic to see them rub their hands over Val's upper body and caress her breasts, then their hands moved lower to clean her completely and I turned away and stopped watching.

Yeah, I better not tell them I enjoyed them doing that. I thought and walked at a normal pace down the mine shaft towards the supervisor's spot. Now that I was paying close attention as I followed the bundle of power wires on the ceiling, I easily found where he stored the working tools. It was only a small space that was right behind where he stood and the earth and rock barrier wasn't that large in front of it.

So simple and I didn't look there, since I was expecting a large area for them to be in. I thought.

You must want to get into the place pretty badly. The supervisor thought as he saw me. “You're back.”

“I'm just going for a walk.” I said and went right by him and took the corner to go towards the right. Section six was to the left and he wondered where I was going. I let him wonder as I left my follow the cable task behind. It went right across the shaft and into the automated crate factory, which meant it was either inside that factory or past it, somehow. I wasn't going to be following it much further during a normal shift with him standing right there.

I took my time and passed several workers as they harvested crystals. “Hey, fellas.” I said and they kind of glared at me. “Want a hand? I'm not really busy and can spare a few minutes.”

The four men exchanged a few looks, then waved at a bare part of the wall. I nodded and took out the five laser drills I had and the looks of disbelief they gave me was priceless. As I walked along, I used the drills in the same grid pattern of five foot sections and did about thirty feet of wall.

“You're welcome.” I said and waved at all of the revealed focusing crystals. “Have fun with your time off.” I turned and walked away. In the next instant, they had dropped their laser drills and gathered up all of the unrefined crystals and had them packed in the crate.

“Son of a bitch, it's damn near filled.” One of them said and looked at my back. “I'm not going to thank you, you pretentious asshole!”

“Ha!” I barked a laugh and waved, then kept walking to the next section. “Hello, ladies and gentlemen.” I said to the two men and two women. “You're a bit further along than the others were when I came along.”

“Keep walking, alien haglishal!” One of the women cursed at me in an odd language.

“You do realize that I think you're the alien, right?” I asked and tapped my pointed ears.

She opened her mouth to respond and one of the men stepped in front of her.

“She didn't mean it like that.” He said in her defense.

I chuckled. “Relax. If I was going to kill her for cursing at me, she'd be dead already.” I said and walked on. I used Presence to keep an ear on the conversation.

“Why would you try to piss him off?” The man asked her when I was out of sight. “He's sleeping with one of the Aviatoma!”

“That's why.” She said. “They are filthy creatures and he's with her! He even made her a goddamn nest! A nest in our living area!”

“Look, he's left us alone so far, right? Why antagonize him?”

“Can't you see what he's doing? He's already dividing us up and making us choose sides!”

“Sides of what?” He asked her.

“Those for him and those against him, of course!” She spat.

“It's not hard to tell what side you're on.” The other man said.

“You know he was responsible for those five deaths! He had to be! Look at what he did to the guy that argued with him!”

“You reported him, didn't you?”

“What? No, of course not.” She lied and I felt the Presence waver. “Not that anything happened anyway. He's still here and hasn't been punished.”

“Can he be punished?” The other woman asked. “He walks around without his restraints and no one say anything at all to him. No one.”

“Let's just get back to work.” The other man said and they did.

Interesting. I thought. Even the normal prisoners can be moles for the guards.

I walked on to the next section and none of them spoke to me when I said hello. I kept going all the way to the end and only one other group spoke to me, so I helped them for half an hour and it filled their crate and then some. I took the extras, of course, and then I walked away. I used Stealth and Presence Run to go back to the end and buried one of the orphaned wrist shackles, then ran back to the supervisor and slowed down to a walk and dismissed the Stealth and walked by him.

“What are you doing?” He asked me.

“I'm seeing who doesn't mind me being around.” I said and walked down the left side.

Not surprisingly, the sections on either side of the avian women's section didn't mind me helping at all. I helped them for half an hour each and they had just enough crystals to finish their crates. Only one other group spoke to me and I helped them as well. The pickings were pretty slim in their section, so needing help was understandable. I did what I could with the time I had left, then remembered seeing that they were the ones that consistently didn't complete their crates.

“It's all right. I got this.” I said and filled the rest of the crate for them with what I had stored.

“Are you kidding?” One of the men asked. “Where did you get extra crystals?”

“I've been mining them this whole time.” I said. “How often do you finish and have exactly the right number of crystals to fill a crate?” I chuckled. “There's almost always extra when I'm mining.”

I could hear their thoughts and they started to turn to anger.

“Before you even think of trying to threaten me to hand over what I still have, I was sentenced to thirty years here because I killed millions of people.” They looked at me like I was lying, even though I didn't and a few of them knew that. “Last official count was over forty-eight million. That was only from the worlds The Order council knew about before I was sentenced, though.” I said with a smile. “I told them it was a lot more than that and then I killed them.”

All four of them stepped back from me and cursed me in their minds.

“That's better.” I said. “Like I told some of the others, if I was going to kill people for cursing at me, they would be dead already.” I started to walk away. “I won't even take back the crystals I gave you.” I said and kept walking, even though I felt their surprise at my implied threat. “You should have just accepted my help and left it at that.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I used Stealth and Presence Run to go to the other end and buried another orphaned wrist shackle, then ran back to the supervisor. I buried another one right in front of his spot in the middle of the shaft, right under his nose, then I ran back to the living area.

*

“Good goddess, what are we going to do?” The administrator asked the two Order members and the group of remaining guards. They had assignments in other parts of the facility and they had all gathered for this meeting.

“Add five years to their sentences.” One of The Order members said.

“That's it?” The female guard asked. “They butchered him and they only get five years?!?”

“It's not like we can punish them any more than having them in prison.” The Order member said.

“Put them in solitary!” She said. “At least for a week! This can't be left the way it is! It can't!”

The administrator sighed. “Very well.” She said. “I want the body cleaned up as soon as possible, and the three Aviatomas will be brought here and put into isolation for a week.”

“Hunter, too.” The Order member that didn't like Hunter said. “He was there and didn't try to stop them, even though he knew they were going to kill the guard.”

“You've already added thirty five years to his sentence for the deaths you believe he is responsible for, without evidence, which more than doubles his time here.” The administrator said. “He doesn't need isolation as well.”

“At the very least he contributed to the death of the guard and he has to be held just as responsible.” The Order member said. “He even made the posts to display it.”

The administrator nodded. “Bring him as well.” She said to the guards. “Make sure everyone is there to see it when you go to get them.”

“Yes, ma'am.” The guards said and saluted.

*

The food dispensary was opened and everyone was served their allotted food rations and I sat with Val and the two avian women and shared my tasty meal with them. I had to pass it to Val first and she passed it to them. I wasn't sure why, since their thoughts weren't on social customs at the moment. All they could think about was everyone's reactions to the dismembered body.

The avian women were quite pleased that everyone was disgusted, repulsed, and afraid. The spot where he had been killed had a blood pattern on the ground as well, where they had strewn out the organs, and a few of them knew it was actually the Aviatoma's written language that said 'trespasser', and they let everyone else know that, too.

I felt a group of guards and an Order member enter my limited detection range and read some of the guards thoughts. “Ladies, they are coming for us.” I said and the three avian women looked at me. “I'll be right back.” I said and ran over to the dispensary. “As many meals as you can, please.” I said and took out thirty six flavor packets.

“Yessir!” The three of them said and quickly did up as many meals as they could. They managed all thirty six and I stored them all just as the Order member and the guards came into view of the living area.

“Thanks, fellas.” I said and gave them five packs each, instead of the agreed upon 'one for three' which would have only been four. I ran back over to cubicle eight and then bowed in front of the two avian women. “My apologies, I must put your restraints back on or you will be in trouble.”

They didn't say anything and just held their hands out to me.

“Thank you.” I said and put their restraints on their wrists and then their ankles, then put Val's on and my own. At the last second, I covered the nest and the bath in solid Presence to keep them together and tucked it into a bag of holding. The three avian women let out a loud squawk of surprise and everyone turned to look at us. I led them out of the cubicle and covered it in a solid and see through wall of Presence, then another and another, so no one could see what I did.

I did the same thing with the entryway to the place I dug out for Val and covered it in dirt and Presence again to hide it, in the hopes that they wouldn't even bother looking for it.

The Order member came into the living area with the group of guards behind him and walked over to us. “I can't pronounce their names.” He admitted and pointed to the three avian women and then at me. “You've been sentenced to isolation for causing the death of the guard.”

“Actually, if you're going by that, then the rules that you search all the cubicles while no one is here, is what caused his death.” I said and he gave me a stern look.

“Are you a licensed advocate for humanitarian rights?” He asked me and I shook my head. “Then keep your opinions to yourself.”

“How long are we going away for?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

“A week.”

The three Aviatomas screeched and squawked loudly and I shared a calming technique with them and let everyone feel it, especially The Order member, and he stared at me.

“Let's go.” One of the guards said angrily and motioned with his hand.

“Just a second.” I said and took out the slightly mangled crate and the makeshift steps. “Ladies, if you would.”

“I thought you said you would have a better ride for us.” The first avian woman said, almost angrily.

“I do, in fact it's a really neat looking platform fitting of your stature. However, this isn't the time to show off to the plebeians.”

She gave me an angry look for a second, then she sighed. “Yes, you're right.” She said and walked up the steps and sat on the crate. The second avian woman climbed on next and then Val sat at the front.

“What are you doing?” The Order member asked.

“I'm not going to let these fine women shuffle all the way up to the administration building when they can ride.” I said and took out a repaired cargo handle.

“Hey! You can't have that!” One of the guards said and reached for it. His hand hit a Presence Barrier and bounced off. “Ah! What the...?”

“Hands off.” I said and attached it to the crate. “It was junk and I repaired it.” I said and secured the three women with Presence and turned the handle on. The crate rose up to a foot in the air. “I was told that the things I cobble together can't be used officially, so I'm using it unofficially.” I used Levitation on myself and rose into the air as well. “Shall we go?”

The guards looked at The Order member and he was at a loss for words. I shouldn't have been able to use Presence with the restraints in place.

“I'll go first, then.” I said and floated away at a faster than walking pace. Everyone in the living area stared at us as I floated and pulled the crate with the three avian women on it with me.

It took a few moments for the guards to realize I was leaving them behind, even though they had come in force to escort the dangerous criminals, and they jogged to catch up to us.

“Can you go a little faster?” The first avian woman asked me, which was a very rare thing. “They are gaining on us.”

I chuckled. “One speed boost coming up.” I said and funnelled a pile of the surrounding Presence through my body, converted it for my use, then put it all into the Levitation technique. The three of them warbled and chirped in delight as I flew at nearly my full speed and left the escort very far behind.

Surprisingly, the other Order member was not at the mine entrance, so I didn't have to stop showing off for the avian women. I slowed down a little, just enough to bury an orphaned wrist shackle in the middle, then I went up the stairs and flew us all the way to the junction point. I took the corner and flew us over to the administration center. I came to a stop outside the door and stopped using the Levitation technique, then turned off the cargo handle and stored it.

“Help us down.” Val said and reached for my hand.

“No, you can sit there regally as we wait for them to get here.” I said and took her hand to hold it. “It's going to be a few minutes.”

Val warbled a laugh and I thought I saw a smile on the second avian woman's face for a second.

The guards had stopped trying to catch us and only walked all the way back to the mine entrance, up the stairs, all the way to the junction, and then over to the administration center where we waited.

“I hope you enjoyed that last bit of freedom.” One of the guards said as they came into the area.

“That wasn't freedom. That was showing you the inadequacy this facility has.” I said bluntly and they all looked at me. “I literally just showed you that you waste way too much time.”

“Get off that thing and get inside.” He said and I helped the three women down and I stored the crate.

“Take that back out.” The guard said. “I'm confiscating it.”

“Why?” I asked.

“You're not allowed to have it, even if it was broken.” He said.

“Is that a part of the rules? Prisoners can't have mangled crates and junk?”

He frowned at me. “Hand it over.”

“Hand what over?” I asked. “Do you see a crate anywhere?”

“Whatever you did, undo it and hand it over.” He spat.

“No. You think you have power over me and you're trying to prove it.” I said. “I'm not here to play games. I'm here to relax, so stop bothering me with your pettiness.”

The guard took out the gun-like thing and tried to raise it, so I caught his hand with an invisible Presence Hand.

“Go ahead, Mr. Guard. Raise that weapon and shoot me.” I said. “Come on. Go ahead. There's only a dozen witnesses here.”

He struggled and tried to pull his hand out of whatever had it caught.

I looked past him at The Order member. “Is there another medical professional here yet?” I asked.

“No.” He responded.

“Then I better not crush his hand.” I said and let it go.

The guard jerked at the lost resistance, then he whipped the weapon up and pointed it at me. “Goodnight.” He said and pulled the trigger, then frowned when nothing happened.

“How much are those weapons?” I asked and used Presence to pluck it from his hand and crushed it into a small ball the size of a marble. “You can dock it from his pay because he lost it on duty.”

The other guards stared at the floating marble and didn't know what to say.

I moved it with Presence and tucked it into the guard's pocket. “You know, I've always enjoyed isolation.” I said and used Presence to open the door and led the avian women inside. “The peace and quiet is quite relaxing.”